User:Nukerebel/Guantanamo force feeding

History

The practice of force feeding prisoners in Guantanamo Bay began in early 2002 when two hunger striker were hospitalized for malnutrition. The pair were holdouts from a hunger strike was begun as a response to Guantanamo guards removing a makeshift turban from one of the prisoners. The strike initially had up to 194 participants, however that number dropped precipitously when the general in charge of the prison announced that prisoners would be allowed to wear turbans. In these initial cases, prisoners were sedated as opposed to restrained prior to being given nutrition. Restraints were used in force feeding at least as early as early as 2005 in response to another hunger strike by prisoners to protest prison conditions. In this case, 105 prisoners were refusing food, although to varying extents. The military acknowledged that twenty prisoners were being force fed. In these cases, many prisoners passively accepted nasal feeding, though others were restrained with leg shackles and handcuffs.

Gurney with leg restraints

Thought initially denied, the military acknowledged use of "restraint chairs" for feeding hunger-striking prisoners in 2006 to prevent them from vomiting up forced nutrition.

In 2005, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the military to provide to prisoners' attorneys: notice within 24 hours of the commencement of force feeding, the prisoners' medical records and weekly status updates about the prisoners' health. This resulted in

Legal Challenges

In 2006, Mohammed Bawazir, a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, sued the United States government in district court on the grounds that force feeding him was tantamount to torture. This suit raised two issues: first, whether the force feeding of prisoners was being performed humanely, and secondly if the prisoner had the ability, in the wake of the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act to sue in district court.

Of force feeding

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Of the method of force feeding

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